Parents sue TEA over STAAR testing problems

A group of parents from around the state hope a lawsuit will make the Texas Education Agency reconsider its decision to use STAAR test results in student and teacher end of year assessment.

Author:
David Goins

Published:
10:29 PM CDT May 23, 2016

Updated:
10:33 PM CDT May 23, 2016

A group of parents from around the state hope a lawsuit will make the Texas Education Agency reconsider its decision to use STAAR test results in student and teacher end of year assessment.

Jen Taylor, of Corinth, is one of those parents.

“The only way to change it is to start somewhere,” Taylor said.

The grassroots group Stop STAAR 2016 filed suit in Travis County on Monday calling for the TEA to throw out STAAR test scores for the 2015-16 school year.

The 26-page lawsuit says the TEA is failing to follow a law enacted by the legislature in 2015 that called for the designers of the STAAR test to craft an exam that students could finish in either two or three hours, based on their grade level.

The TEA has adhered to the new law and modified tests for 4th and 7th grades, but STAAR tests for other grade levels have not been altered.

“We have to follow those rules and those laws – then the TEA does as well,” Taylor said.

Her son Caleb is close to finishing up 8th grade. He says he makes good grades and does well on a variety of standardized testing, but says it's a different story for the STAAR test.

"When I come home I have no hope, I just think I’m not going to pass it at all,” Taylor said.

Nearby Lewisville ISD expressed its concern in April after it found 20-percent of end of course high school English exams were scored incorrectly.

TEA commissioner Mike Morath has said more than 14,000 exams would be tossed due to a computer glitch.

However, the former DISD trustee told our content partner The Texas Tribune last week that there is not enough evidence to exclude all other exams from the state’s accountability system, though the agency continues to examine the situation.

A spokesperson for the TEA said the agency had not been served the lawsuit on Monday so it would not issue a comment.